“A Beautiful, Unfortunate Honor” – Brad Fischetti on Telling The LFO Story

When LFO’s Brad Fischetti kicks off the next round of tour dates for The LFO Story on January 28th at StageOne in Fairfield, CT, it won’t be your typical ‘90s nostalgia show.

Sure, there will be plenty of memorable songs, because while New Kids on the Block had a bunch of hits, LFO had quite a few of their own, as well, but there will also be healing. This is because The LFO Story isn’t just a concert, it’s the telling of the history of a pop group that was ravaged by tragedy, but lives on through their music.

“I bring my band out, and I tell the whole story of LFO,” Fischetti says of the show, “From 1974, when Rich (Cronin) was born, until today.”

Cronin, the frontman of the group that gave us the seminal seasonal song “Summer Girls,” passed away from cancer in 2010, and the third member of the trio, Devin Lima, succumbed to the same disease in 2018. Founding member Brian Gillis, who left before they signed a record deal, passed away in 2023.

This has left Fischetti as the lone man remaining, and he wants to keep the memory of his friends alive.

“I play music that inspired us, music of the time, our personal stories of how the songs came together, how we came together, losing the guys. I play all the LFO songs.”

Fischetti adds his faith is brought up during the show, as well, saying, “I do a witness about my journey from believer, to atheist, to believer. A journey from the darkness to the light,” adding, “I’m being vulnerable, and it’s beautiful, man. I can’t really describe it (any way) other than that. It’s a beautiful, unfortunate honor.”

For this run of shows he will be joined by frequent tourmate Trevor Penick of O-Town, who Fischetti is incredibly grateful for, noting the’ve been performing together long enough now that they’ve developed an on-stage chemistry, which is something he’d missed since the passing of his LFO bandmates.

Performing The LFO Story isn’t easy on Fischetti, reliving both all the good times, and the tragedies on a nightly basis, but the rewards have been plentiful. “It’s emotionally draining,” he says, “but it’s beautiful. I’ve seen such beautiful healings come from that show. Whether it’s sound guys, or fans, or even guys in my own band, they’re so affected by it.”

He adds, “It’s hard to imagine being here. Sometimes I take a step outside and just look at the story from the outside, and I’m like, holy cow.”

With the tour set to begin at the end of the month, I caught up with Fischetti, who discussed what led to him performing the music of LFO again, as well as the time WWE Superstar Alexa Bliss joined him on stage during a show, and getting props from M.O.P.

How did you come to the decision to perform and tour the music of LFO as a solo artist? Walk everyone through the thought process, who else you spoke with about it, and who you confided in about how you felt. 

Sometimes you have an idea, and then you put the pieces in place for that idea to become a reality. In this case, when Devin and I brought LFO back in 2017, that was a really hard decision. We never really thought about touring without Rich.

We did a cameo appearance at a 98 Degrees concert in 2016, literally 30 seconds long. It was in the city where we shot a video for “Summer Girls,” and there were like 5,000 people there, and they all went crazy. We walked off the stage and I remember saying to Devin, man, that was a cruel joke, you know?

A few days later, I got a call from an agent saying, hey, would you guys consider bringing LFO back on the road?

I don’t know if you’re a prayer or not, but sometimes when we’re hitting really hard times, we pray so hard. I wish I could pray with the same fervency that I prayed over that decision every day. I really prayed hard about it – What are my intentions? Where’s my heart at?

My intentions were clear, my heart was pure. We can honor Rich, we can bring the fans back to a simpler time. Also, between us, we had about 10 kids at the time, so we could maybe earn some money, too.

So we did it. We called it the Rich in Love Tour. I drove the bus, we toured with our band, which was one of my things with the agency. I said, we’ll do it, but we’re touring with the band, and we’re headlining. That’s a big undertaking, but it was the greatest tour we ever did. It was beautiful.

We were making plans for new tours when Devin was diagnosed. When he died, not only was he my bandmate, but he was my best friend, and when he died, I went into the darkness big time, and couldn’t find joy anywhere. It was like someone had taken a hood and pulled it over my eyes. I remember one day my wife said – you got to do something about this. You can’t live this way.

Absolutely. 

So I went to my primary doctor, he gave me a questionnaire, and I answered it and he goes, whoa. So I had some different medical professionals, I had my therapist, my pastor, got together with my friends, played some music, tried to eat better, work out.

Eventually I got through the darkness. Then my agent called again. He said, hey, we’ve got this tour, it’s called Pop 2000 – at the time it was Lance (Bass) from NSYNC, Aaron Carter, O-Town, and Ryan Cabrera – we’ve got these three shows that Lance is not available for, would you want to host the show, and then do an LFO medley with O-Town backing you up?

I was like, oh my gosh. I’d put LFO to bed. I had already put it to bed a couple of different times in my career, so I never even imagined doing anything like that.

You used the word solo artist, and I don’t consider myself a solo artist. I never wanted to be a solo artist.

I agreed to do it, and O-Town was the perfect group to be a part of it, because they really knew the guys. They really loved the guys. Rich helped them a lot in their career. Rich’s brother managed them at one particular time. They had to sing “Girl on TV” in their tryouts for O-Town, and they all admired Devin’s voice, so they feel something from this LFO tragedy.

We created an idea for how the show was going to go. In the middle of “Girl on TV” Devin does these beautiful ad-libs. We left his vocal in, and we just put our microphones to the sky in honor of him.

At the very first soundcheck I heard Devin’s voice, and I was done, man. I was in a corner in tears. For those first three shows, every show, I finished the show, and I was in a mess.

Of course. 

But what was interesting was the fans were so supportive. It really struck me because I was like, what are they going to think? They’re going to be like, dude, what are you doing up here by yourself? You’re not even the main guy. But instead, they’re thanking me. They’re like, thank you for keeping the LFO legacy alive.

It became clear that this was an opportunity to really bring some light into a dark situation, because you can talk about all the cool stuff about LFO – selling millions of records, number one hit, records on the wall – but it’s a tragic story.

They asked me to come back for more shows, and that was six years ago now, and it’s been important. It’s my professional life now, representing, or having the unfortunate honor to be the person who carries on, the LFO legacy, reminding people of Rich and Devin, and their great talents, and their greatness as humans.

It’s been a really beautiful experience, and I’m so humbled by the love that I get from the fans.

Listen, I’m no Devin Lima. I’m no Rich Cronin. I’m who I am. I do the best that I can to honor them.

So how did I decide? I didn’t decide. It sort of came to me.

Then little by little, I started getting ideas on other things to do, like The LFO story. We did a live stream during COVID because there were no shows, and that’s how it really started.

The fans thanked me, and I said, listen, I’ll be here as long as you’re willing to come see us.

It’s beautiful in the Pop 2000 show because you’re bringing all these people back to a simpler time – 1999, 2000, they’re all in middle school or high school, most of them. Life was way easier, way before marriages, and divorces, and kids, and cancer, and all this other stuff. So it’s a great blessing to be able to give people a break.

The world’s crazy, especially now with social media, and news channels 24-7. For me, music and entertainment should be a break from all that stuff.

I totally agree. By the way, you mentioned Ryan Cabrera at one point, and this is pure coincidence, but I’m drinking out of a mug that has his wife’s name on it {lifts my Alexa Bliss mug}. 

Oh man, that’s amazing. She’s awesome, man.

We were talking, I do this VIP experience called The Water Girl, where one of the fans can bring me my water on stage, and she was like – hey, can I be your water girl one time? I was like, of course you can, just tell me what show.

She was a big LFO fan. She had a picture of herself at one of our concerts.

She always tells me this story, it was like this cheerleading convention that she was at, and we were playing there.

Her favorite song was “Every Other Time,” so when she’s at the show, I always try to dedicate it to her, and Ryan, and their baby.

I did not expect an Alexa Bliss story out of that! Amazing! Now let’s rewind back to the summer of “Summer Girls.” What was the moment for you where you were sort of like, “Oh, this is bigger than I thought it would be? My life’s about to change.” 

I can tell you exactly what that moment is, and thankfully, there’s a video of it. We were on Long Island, and it was the day of the album release. They wanted us to do a performance, and I think an autograph signing, at a mall. We were up in like, I call it a green room, but it was like the break room for the food court, or something like that, and we were nervous. Like, man, is anybody going to be here?

You had to walk through the food court, and go down an escalator, and you couldn’t see the bottom until you got halfway down the escalator. So we’re on the escalator, which is essentially slow motion, and then all of a sudden 10,000 people started screaming and going crazy.

We’re in slow motion, they can’t see us at first, but then as the escalator reaches like halfway down, they see us, and they start going crazy. I’m like almost in tears.

I think that was the moment I was like, oh my gosh, this is crazy.

It was a beautiful memory. I’m thankful that there’s a video of it.

As the years have passed, “Summer Girls” has worked its way into the Mungo Jerry, Fresh Prince territory of required summertime music. 

I can’t tell you how fortunate and blessed I feel to be a part of people’s history. It’s so amazing when you think about it. It’s more than a hit song, it’s a classic, and every summer it’s going to be one of the top songs that people want to hear, or play.

I just feel so thankful for that part of my life, and again, it’s an unfortunate honor, but I’m honored to be the one to carry it.

You had another song I have to ask you about, a very unlikely collaboration. It was LFO and M.O.P. I spoke with M.O.P. about it back in 2011, and Lil’ Fame said you guys were, “Hip-hop like a motherfucker,” and Billy Danze said that the two of them had a good time doing the record with you. What do you remember from that recording session, and experience? 

You know, I’ll be honest with you, we weren’t even in the studio when they showed up, but I do know a good story from it.

The producers are there, and they’re waiting for the guys to come. Somebody shows up, checks the mic, and then he starts leaving. They go, where are you going? He’s like, I was just here to check the mics for them.

I guess (they recorded) the next day. {laughs}

I play that song in The LFO Story, and I love that rap, dude.

I’m glad to hear they said that we were hip hop as a mofo, because that was our foundation. We started as a rap group.

How old are you?

I’m 47. 

So you know, back when you and I were teenagers, I’m a little older than you, it was really sort of unheard of for kids in the suburbs to be listening to hip-hop. It was not on the radio.

I grew up in a little small town, a suburb of New York City, and was made fun of all the time for wearing my Ice Cube hat, or my Raiders gear, but I was listening when I was younger. It was like the Beastie Boys, and Run-DMC, and LL Cool J.

I told Vanilla Ice this, and I told Young MC this, I didn’t give them enough credit for being an influence in my rapping life.

Truth of the matter was, that first Vanilla Ice record, the whole Young MC record, those were big.

Then as I got older, it was Ice Cube, it was Public Enemy, it was Snoop and Dre. Hip-hop was my thing, man, and the same thing for Rich. This blonde haired, green eyed kid from the suburbs, one of the greatest rappers there ever was. It was just unique.

What a great story about M.O.P, though, bro. Thank you for sharing that.

Oh, definitely. I’m glad I could! So, I gotta ask, can you still walk into an Abercrombie & Fitch and just take whatever you want? 

I never could.

They didn’t want anything to do with us, man. They did not think that we were their target audience, and we’re like, what are you talking about? There’s like 5,000 18-year-old girls at every one of our shows, and they’re in Abercrombie.

To this day, people stop me, and go, “I’m wearing my Abercrombie.”

But you know what, it worked out good for us, it worked out good for them. I think they sent us like two boxes of clothes, and that was it.

They should send you another box of clothes. They should read this, and send you another box of clothes. 

Well, I second that motion.

For more Brad Fischetti, including where you can catch him performing The LFO Story, head on over to lfo.me.